Tier
by Darkstrawberry7
Summary: "You're like a weird magnet Fraulein. You draw people up into things they rather not be involved with." She thought she was done, three years had gone by since the last 'Chime' and a nation away Alex was just trying to pick up with her life. Funny how things have a way of dragging you back in. OCs. zombies...on hiatus until further notice.


_God I_'_ve been on hiatus for too long, now pretty much everything about this site has changed. -Sighs- Well there's nothing that I can do about except move on and just deal with it. Okay this is a little crossover of mine that I made after a binge of left for dead and for some unfathomable reason I came up with this...Eh...I'll just let the story speak for itself._

_I do not own Durarara, Hetalia or the world at large; only my messed up little ocs and the chaos I'm going to throw them into._

_-Now the loading screen's down, let's bust up that door and go to_ _town-_

* * *

**Tier 1**

**(_Pick your starting weapon)_**

_**-**T-1-1-T-_

Her eye twitched as she stared up at the flight scheduling. The neon lettering flickered once more. Delayed. Every. Damn. Flight. '..._This_..._is...absolutely _ridiculous!' The teen inwardly groaned.' _One guy gets the sniffles and suddenly it's a "pandemic" that shuts down every single damn flight!_' Her frown that had become seemingly permanent on her features ever since she had arrived in that blasted country grew ever so slightly.'_Paranoid idiots. _' She snorted,'_ Damn yank and his officials sure know how to piss a person off, I swear if I see him again I'm going to throttle the idiot... and maybe the officials that issued this for good measure._' She continued to "read" the overhead schedules.

The blond sighed, letting her sights fall back down to the crowded terminal. A chill ran past her when she stared out at the other stranded passengers, each in their various states of disarray and discontent at the closure. She hated crowds. Three years was _not_ enough time to cure the uneasy feeling she got from them in the slightest, nope. Three years... Had it really been that long?

'_Three years...yet it almost seems as though the so called "Chime Incident" __was yesterday._' Alex turned away, moving towards the glass observation window, the still planes resting on the runway did nothing to add to her current mood. She scowled, remaining unobservant to anything but her own thoughts.

Three years ago the events set in motion known simply as the "Chime Incident" were still a fresh name the media had placed on it had been given due to the rumored 'chimes' that rang out over London without explanation following the near total annihilation of the city."_One of the worst attacks of the on a metropolitan area to_ _date._" They said. "_A true tragedy that affected us all._" The casualties astronomical as was the collateral damage. Rumours flew that the perpetrators were imprisoned and swiftly brought to justice by what was left of the English government. Who at the time "only barely managed to regain control over their disaster that was once their beloved city." Driving tails of heroics emerged from "survivors" of the "tragedy" almost instantly; weaving webs of how they managed to survive that "hell" just so they could someday "leave a piece of history behind." Though if you asked her it was one of the greatest damn cover ups of the damned century, in her. How'd she know? Only because it really was her that inadvertently caused of the whole thing.

...Though of _course _that was hush-hush information, only known by the world governments, the ones who actually _did_ live through the crisis (or maybe not...), and herself. Though _that_ was a story she _wasn't _going to tell just yet. Too many bad memories.

'_It really was lucky that the city could be rebuilt so fast. It was quite the world effort if I say so myself. Yes, everyone wanted to help "_England_" get back on her feet again._' She grimaced. Her feet...hers. That was right wasn't it? She bit her lip.'_Damn.__ It just gets worse as time passes doesn't it?...Pathetic. Just one guy out of millions and I'm still hung up that couldn't help. No because you have a habit of making everything worse and then he... Jeez._' The blond noticed her pitiful looking reflection in the window and shot it a bitter smile.'_Shut up and_ _g__et over yourself mate. Hell for all you know he's probably still watching you from wherever and busting his tight ass laughing at the fact you're acting like a total girl. Man..._' She shook her head and pulled away, letting her hands fall to her pocket.

'_Damn it__ Artie, couldn't you have picked someone else for the job? Or at least left an instruction manual or something. Yeah because a fourteen year old girl knew how to deal with millions of pissed off people and a country on the verge of disaster. Right._' She rubbed her eyes with a grumble, "I'm not a freaking help desk, damn-" Someone collided into her. "it-?"

"Gah! I...I'm s-so s-sorry miss!" The form stuttered in an obvious male voice. His words sounded clipped and broken with the faintest trace of an accent. English was obviously _not_ his first language. The young man pulled himself up off the ground and quickly dusted himself off. " S-sorry."

She raised an eyebrow, '_Hm, he has an accent__...now why does it sound familiar? Where...Oh yeah. It was Japanese or something like that wasn't it? Eh...could be wrong on that but I guess if the bloke doesn't know what the hell I'm saying I'll just walk away instead of continuing to look like an idiot._' She had to hand it to them sometimes stuff in those old magic books crammed in the back of her library were really was useful for things. Like learning a language on the fly. It was better than buying a damn translator that was for sure. Plus those were _really_ expensive sometimes...'_Here__ goes nothing._'

"No, no it's alright. I wasn't paying attention and in the way so you ran into me. Don't beat yourself up about it." The teen gave a small shrug, "Are you okay sir?" She gave him a quick once over. Eh, a bit taller than her at the moment and probably in his late teens or early twenties she guessed. He had short spiky hair and crystal blue eyes, which were focused on her at the moment. Huh? Blue eyes...well that wasn't something you saw much from that part of the world right? Absently she wondered if he might mixed or they were contacts, something like that nature.

He blinked in at her, it probably must've been odd to just randomly stumble upon someone who spoke fluent Japanese, maybe he was chastising himself about going and making assumptions or something of that nature. She could only guess. The silence snapped when he answered back in the same tongue she spoke."Ah?...Y-yes I'm alright. Are you really okay though miss?" Alex snapped out of her thoughts and blinked awkwardly.

Crap, she had zoned out hadn't hadn't she? She _really_ needed to stop doing that. '_Wait what did he say?__' _The blond glanced away awkwardly, "Yeah peach perfect actually." She patted her chest with a smirk. "I'm sturdier than you would think mate." God was _that_ ever true,"One little run in isn't going to do any damage, don't worry."

She frowned at what she saw, looks like the crowd that surrounded the help desk desk ever larger was getting rowdier and more ticked off by the felt a small pang of pity run through her when she noticed the two airport workers try to handle the situation by themselves. '_Poor bastards picked a bad day to come into work._' She thought.

'_Not my problem though._' Alex glanced back at the man and shot him a cheeky grin."Hey you want to go get a seat? I think you might get caught up in a soon to be riot if you just stay around here." She shot a glance towards the help desk and turned on her heels. She manevured herself over to one of the few remaining airport benches and plopped down with a thud. She let herself sink into the seat the plastic of a chair beside a random couple who paid no mind to her presence, she returned the favour. God was she was grateful for these things because quite frankly standing on your feet for that long with nothing to do sucked.

She didn't spare a single glance when the she heard the bench creak beside of her. "If you ask me there's a whole list of things that I find stupid about places like this." She didn't really care if he listened or not, she had to complain to about this. "Say for example, one person gets a really bad case of the sniffles or they find some weird food or something in a person's luggage and then instead of just getting rid of the issue the find it necessarily to condemn every flight!" She tched,'_Cheap bastards__ probably won't even pay to book a hotel for anyone._' "Tell me that's not screwed up!"

"..." He wasn't listening at all.

Her gaze traveled a bit noticed he wasn't listening, she raised an eyebrow before shook her head slightly and let the conversation die there. It wasn't a problem if he didn't want to talk to her, she'd just find some other way to past the time. She slid her cell of her pocket and flicked it on frowning herself at the message notice above onscreen keypad. Eh always could answer that one later, but what to do in the meantime? Fingers hesitated, pausing before they tapped down through the controls and down her contact list, scanning she picked out a name and hit the call button. Seconds drug by before someone answered. Alex grinned," Hey snowflake, how's it hanging?"

An annoyed growl emanated from the speaker, someone had obviously just woken up."_What the_ hell_ do you want at this sort of hour woman?_" The voice on the other line snapped. It just made the grin on her face widen evermore so.

"Come on snowman, that's not the _proper _way to speak to a lady."She tsked disapprovingly. It just kept getting every time she called it just got funnier and funnier, what a shame she couldn't see what his face looked like right now. The blonde ignored the scoffing noise he made." I need a ride back to my hotel and I don't have a car, take that and add the fact that I don't really want to pay for a rental and what do you get as an answer? You're ass getting in gear and coming over here."

She could almost see his eye twitch when he snapped." _What happened that the plane, the one you were supposedly leaving on?_"

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose," No go. There's a quarantine out on the city and every damn flight's delayed. I'm stranded and god knows when they'll start to move planes off the runway again." Did she mention she really, really hated airports?

"_And what actually makes you think I'm actually even _in _the country at this moment dumpkoff?_" Okay that was just uncalled for, she had run short on her fun and was really starting to get pissed off.

"Don't you even_ try _to give me that bull Gilbert. I know for certain you're still here because you said you were going to bunk at Mattie's house, and I know Mattie hasn't left the border to head home yet." She folded an arm across her chest,"I'm betting your with him right now and just don't want to get the hell off you arse because of a _slim _chance you might get laid later." God was she ever being a cockblock but she needed a ride damn it."Look man, your little boy toy's still gonna be there when you get back so get the fuck up off you ass and get over here or else I'm going to _walk _all the way over there and kick your freaking ass. _Got_ it?"

Nothing but silence from the other end of the line. Her eyebrow raised slightly. The albino was actually silent and hadn't offered a single snide remark? That was too good to be true. She could hear a conversation in the background, he was talking (shouting was a more accurate description) with someone else, followed by a rather loud door slam. '_He actually _was _with him._' She stared at the phone with a flat expession, holding it back to her ear when he picked back up.

"_Alright_." He huffed. " _You better kiss my shoes for so _graciously_ granting you this simple request. I want to hear groveling when I get there, you hear me?_"

She _had _to roll her eyes at that." Yeah, yeah, sure. Oh and when you're done with this little errand maybe you ought to tell that boyfriend of yours to ease up a little on you. You're really starting to become quite the _whipped _little bottom Gil."

"_I AM NOT WH-_" Alex hit the end button with an evil cackle, he just made it too easy. The blond stuffed the cell back into her pants pocket.

"Aha what fun that was." She shifted her attention to the dark headed man beside her,"So-" she didn't even get to begin her sentence when the PA crackled to life overhead. They both glanced up questioningly. Maybe they decided to rest suddenly ungrounded or something, no such luck. They'd been _extended _until further notice. Countless people around the airport groaned and swore, themselves being no such exception.

"You've _got _to be fucking _kidding _me!" The teen ran a hand through her hair, letting a groan and fluid stream of curses escape her."Hey man..." She prodded him on the shoulder, yeah it probably was annoying to the guy but compared to the seemingly endless wait it was definitely the lesser of two evils.

The young man jumped apparently startled by her touch, his distant gaze disappeared when he glanced back at the blonde. He blinked slowly,"Ah...yes?"

She continued in the other's native language,"Sorry man if this isn't my business but what brings you to the states? I'm just a little curious is all." Not to mention bored to tears.

He shifted slightly in his seat a small look of contemplation passed his face. Shrugging he slid his hands into his jean pockets. "I'm going to school around here. It's a study partnership that lets me travel abroad. Seeing as it was just the end of the semester and I was going back home for a few days to see my family. Though...it doesn't look like I might get to this time with these closures and everything." He sighed. "I'm stuck as anyone else here."

Cautiously she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and shot him a withering look of pity. "Wow man...That really sucks and I mean really sucks. Being stuck in a place like this but you can't beat yourself up about it you know. There's always worse things that could happen that getting stranded at an airport." Her lips curved up into a a sheepish smile, her pale grey eyes not unkind. "I'm Alex. Alex Clark. What's yours name?"

He fidgeted slightly, his clear blue eyes briefly meeting hers. He returned the fellow traveler's smile with a small but warm one of his own. He switched back to English, translating the phrases he wanted to use in his head first."Hello...Clark-san. Sorry...I'm not that...well at English...yet, still learning." He rubbed the back of his head."My name...is...Ryuugamine Mikado. Wait. I mean it's reversed...in western order...uh..."

She snickered slightly, "Chill I get it I get it, stop spazzing out. Hm...Mikado Ryuugamine..." She said it slowly, letting it roll off her tongue, a unknown grin flashed towards him. "Sounds awesome, kind of like the protagonist to a novel." She switched back to Japanese, "Or one of those special import brands of candy from Europe." The teen tapped her chin thoughtfully."I guess if we're going by that way of thinking if you're the lead class one protaganist, a good guy through and through, then maybe...I'd be...class four anti-hero." She mused." Setting up to be the perfect controversial protagonists..."

"..." He wasn't really sure how to respond to that.

She grinned, leaning back in her seat. She stretched her limbs out drearily, the wait was draining her of her energy. Ugh, she didn't really want to fall asleep on these benches, god knows what's been on them. She glanced absently to the large glass windows that overlooked the runway.'_You better hurry your arse over here Beilschmit._'

Mikado coughed awkwardly,"...So...May I ask you...the same? What you're doing...here. I mean. Alex-san?" He tried his best not to stutter with his limited english.

Alex's turned her head to face him. Her dulled eyes darkened further still, much reminiscent to that of a doll's. Lifeless and glazed over, it made the other shiver slightly. A long pause filled the air before she chose to speak."Ah... Business. Just business...no hold on, I thought I might pay a visit to someone who I haven't seen in ages though, or something like that." She shrugged.

The ravenette raised an eyebrow questioningly, deciding to switch back to Japanese for simplicity's sake. The blond seemed to understand it just as well as his fail english."Ah, is it a familiy member of yours or something of that nature?"

She gave a tired smile, nodding slightly."Yeah my cousin actually, I heard she got out of prison a while back and thought maybe..."She waved her hand dismissively,"Though knowing her, she'd probably be halfway to China at this point. You never really know where she is unless you run into her or you hear about a big incident that sounds suspicious." The blond laughed a little at that.

The older man's face went pale at the mention of 'prison', surely she must've been joking. There isn't a way that a person could be so calm talking about something of that nature."What do you mean by that Clark-san?"

She just shrugged as if it were nothing,"She doesn't have the best track record, I think she got arrested a couple of years ago I'm not really that sure on the details about about it but it had something to do with arson...arson or something catching on fire and getting destroyed. Either way it landed her in the the slammer and that was that." '_Who cares how what she was in there for, not like it matters anymore seeing as she was released and what's done is done._' They lapsed into a short silence, not a word was spoken until that quiet peace was tersely shattered by a shout.

Alex picked her head up, her brow furrowed slightly. Her gaze flickered around the terminal, a small shiver ran up her spine.'_What's going on?_' She wondered, '_Don't tell me they're finally rioting. That's _all _we need to have on our hands. A full scale freaking riot._'

Twin sets of grey and accompanying blue scanned the massive crowd of travelers searching for the disturbance. What they saw unfold almost made Alex regret ever having set foot in the building. Surely she wouldn't've had to play witness to something...like this.

A clear set circle of people kept their distance from something, an apparently homeless man, daring not to step foot near the figure. The man reached out, snapping and growling at everyone who got even the slightest bit closer to him. Someone shoved a person in front, and a woman stumbled, falling into the clear set circle. Desperately, she scrambled to scoot away, her high heels clanked against the flooring. But it was too late, the man had already looked his sights.

Instantly he pounced on the woman, eliciting a scream out of her and dragged her in closer. Unable to escape the parasite's grasp she screamed again a look of desperation glistened in her eyes. No one made a move to help her, not even the guards who watched on as well at the spectacle. A line of saliva mixed with god knows what else dribbled down from his lips. His pale bloodshot eyes scanned over the crowd unblinkingly, daring them to make a move. He bit down onto the woman's shoulder.

Apparently this had gone on too long, longer than the guards' liking. One, then two, then another; guards slipped out of the mass the slightest bit of fear, apprehension, and disgust played straight on their faces. The head one seemed to say something to the crazed man though through the distance and the woman's screams neither Alex or Mikado could understand a word they said. The man didn't seem to be in the mood to listen however, seeing as he took another large chunk out of the woman in his arms. Her screams died into a muffled whimpering. The lead guard shot the others a look and they nodded back, their hands going for their batons and tazers.

Everything froze, an almost eternal heartbeat before the spell that held over the crowd shattered. The stressed floodgates that held back the normal people in an overly stressful time shattered and the world around them dissolved into absolute chaos. People shoved and pushed one another to not get caught up in the disaster yet were swept away and knocked down into a rushing tide of human bodies all searching for the exit, and subsequently trampled.

The raven haired male looked white as a sheet, his hand covered his mouth. He really looked as though he were about to get sick. Mikado swallowed a nervous gulp of air and averted his eyes from the scene, disgust plainly written on his spared a small glance to the woman beside of him, his eyes trailed up from her feet to her face."Clark-san?!" God if _he _thought he was going to be sick the blond looked as though she had already gone beyond that._  
_

Alex's hand was clamped tightly over her mouth, she clenched it so tightly her knuckles had begun to go stark white. A brief memory flashed through her mind._-Blood dripped down the sides of his face, his vibrant green eyes had begun drain. She screamed at him calling him all sorts of foul names this wasn't supposed to happen again, water begun to mingle with the sanguine blood, __muddying it into a dirty brown. She couldn't lose another one, she had promised, _promised _that he'd be okay. 'You limey bastard don't even think of leaving! I swear I'll kick your arse up and down the Thames if you try, please don't! Please.' She begged. His lips curved into a tired smile, his unfocused eyes met hers.'Can you do me a favour? Keep watch over the place...and make sure the wankers don't get into trouble?' She swallowed thickly and nodded,'I'll...just be...taking a rest...you hear? Wake me up in a bit...' and he shut his eyes. She in the distance she could vaguely hear sirens, just barely audible over her scream.-_ She shook slightly, a choked sound escaped her throat. Her wide grey eyes never left the center of the chaos,'_Oh god. Not again. No it's not like that again!_' A hand gripped her shoulder and shook her roughly.

"Clark-san!" It was Mikado, a clear look of anxious worry played out in his crystal eyes. He frowned and helped the younger girl to her feet.( '_When did my knees give out?_' She absently wondered) She noticed her sleeves had slipped up ever so slightly, showing the vine like pattern of black ink underneath. Quickly she tugged them back down ans shook her head."Are you alright? Hey now Clark-san, look at me. Are you alright?"

Her head snapped up, she stared at the ravenette for a second or two. The world was beginning to fall to chaos once more around her and she couldn't let it happen to anyone else. In a decisive instant she snatched up the older man's wrist and dragged him along through the crowd, pulling off to the side she dashed through the opposite way towards the terminal gates. Her expression knitted into a darkly determined mask."We can't stay here! It's too dangerous to get caught up in that mess, you're only going to get yourself trampled and killed. Hurry up, towards the tarmac! There won't be as many people there and we'll have a better chance at survival!"

"H-Hold on!" He stumbled slightly in an attempt to keep up, not that he was going to go against this strange girl's orders at a time like this."How are we going to get out of here?"

"Don't worry, I've got a friend that'll help us out. You just wait and see." She glanced back at him, her lips curved up into a deadened smile. '_I just hope Gilbert doesn't mind another person hitching a ride._'

_**-**T-1-1-T-_

The pale figure leaned back in the seat, his hands tapped sporadically on the tinted inside of the window. He stared up at the pale interior of his car, faintly he could hear the muffled honk of cars trapped in gridlock and human shouts echoed off the parked cars in the distance. A rolling crack of thunder echoed overhead. The muffled noises aside, there wasn't a soul in that section of the lot save for himself. It was almost eerie how still everything was.'_Where the hell is she_?' He pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the time with a sigh. If she sent him here without any intention to show up there was going to be one less blond in the world..._  
_

His cell vibrated in his hand, he had a text. From her. The albino grimaced and quickly scanned it it."_Gilbert. It's happening again. Don't go inside the building. Drive out along to the back in the empty section of the tarmac, all the planes are grounded but don't worry about that right now, we've got other things going on. Get over here. NOW. Bef-_" the text cut off as if something stopped her from finishing when she sent it. A small shiver of trepidation crawled up his spine. This didn't sit right at all.

Twisting the keys in the ignition he restarted the car and pulled it out of park, slowly he drove through the empty lots and back through a employee only entryway. Nothing stirred as he rolled past the stranded planes, security wasn't pulling up to him and shouting for him to get off the runway. Nothing. Okay he knew airport security really did suck but _come on_, this was just freaky. Where the hell _was _everybody? Closer and closer he drove to the edge and faintly spotted a figure waving her arms as a signal for him to pull up. Without a doubt that was her. He parked the car and she let her arms fall to the side, huh? There was another person with her?

He hit the unlock and she threw herself inside, panting as if she was out of breath. "Get in." She told the man following her. (Seriously, who the hell was this guy?) She glanced around quickly, jabbing the lock button. "Drive."

Gilbert stared at her."What the hell is going on? Who's this guy?" He jabbed his finger at the man now taking up space in his back seat."I'm not a freaking taxi damn it and I _don't_ pick up hitchhikers." He hissed. Correction, he didn't_ anymore._ Sharp grey eyes cut through him intensely.

"Just. Fucking. Drive." The blond commanded, an unusual urgency added to her tone."I'll tell you once you fucking _drive_. Ok?" She glanced back nervously her hands fidgeted in her lap. Every so often she would glance back even as they escaped out onto the freeway. The amount of cars in the southbound lane was at a staggering standstill that went on for miles and miles yet the northbound into the city was dishearteningly empty. Where was everyone going to? With every mile passed Alex's expression darkened further.

He'd had enough."Are you going to finally tell me or is it some big damn secret?"

Her head fell into her hands and she began to mutter almost inaudibly,"I thought we got rid of them all. I was sure of it, _so sure_. T-There weren't supposed to be any more...three years I thought...but I let my guard down. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't, things never go right...a pandemic...of course...it's _another _cover up." Her voice cracked, the teen looked like she was going to fall apart any second now. Her eyes stared blankly at her lap."We killed them all, there _were _no more. They're _supposed _to be _dead._"

Gilbert's brow furrowed, he spared a glance over to the girl in the seat beside of him. Damn, she really was freaked. He only saw the kid like this once before and that time was enough to shake even him, the girl back then was so broken and this one sitting in the seat beside of him almost looked as if it were a mirror of that time. "Hey, girl. I can't understand unawesome muttering. What the hell happened?"

She went silent and muttered a single word."_Dolls_."

He threw his foot down on the break, Alex and Mikado slammed forward hitting their heads on the back of the seat and dashboard respectively. The blond let out a violent stream of curses and clutched her head. "Ah mother-effin-hell. Christ almighty, my head. Ow. Ow. Ow." She winced, her eyes trailed up to the albino in the driver's seat, her expression morphed from one to pain mingled with confusion and more than mild annoyance. She could feel the ravenette's eyes on them, no doubt confused."What the _hell _as_ that _for?" She snapped.

"...Uh...There was a...box...in the road." He glanced away awkwardly, ignoring the flat stare she was giving him. He removed his foot off the break and pressed the pedal down, quickly regaining their previous speed. His eyes flickered over to her every so often though you could tell he was a little unnerved."Alex. What do you mean, you had said for yourself they were gone _right_? Plus what would they be doing halfway around the world?" He frowned, his grip tightened on the steering wheel."I'm not a doctor but maybe you saw something else and-"

"No." She cut him off with a little more venom than necessary,"It wasn't a _flashback _damn it." She spat. "I know what I saw, and if it wasn't one of those damn things then what the hell was it then Gilbert?" He winced a little at her shout. "I want to hear your explanation."

"Ano...is..everything...okay up there?" Damn. He had forgotten about the kid in back, they both had.

Alex turned around in her seat to face the Japanese man. A forced smile played at her lips." Yes. Everything's..._fine._" She hesitated slightly. "Just a little trouble with the breaks and stuff, nothing to worry about." It looked as though he understood about half of what she was saying. Half was good enough." My friend here was just going...to...find a gas station to pull into and check on them, _right _Gilbert?"

But his his car was absolutely fine...he caught the look she was giving him. Not in front of the normal people. Right. "...Yeah." He went along with it.'_I need to get some gas anyway._' "Right. Don't worry your pretty little head off kid."

They drove a ways, on the hunt for a station to pull into. Faintly a speck glimmered in the distance, neon lettering flickered brightly against the barren grey backdrop they called the sky. They pulled into the almost dead station and up to one of the many empty gas pumps. "Alright all who have to use it or need to get out this is your only chance because we ain't stopping until we get where we're going. Got it?" She heard the back door open and close before the ravenette hurried into the station.

"He's gone."

Alex sighed, slipping farther down in her seat as if all the energy had been sucked out of her. Tiredly she rested a hand on her head, "You want to know why I think it was a doll? It's the only reasonable comparison I can make to what was going on back there."

"I was going to ask about that-"

She cut him off without even realizing it."Tensions were boiling over and things were just getting out of hand without...without...that bastard coming around. Like a man high on something with stiff movements and unfocused eyes, people probably just thought he was just some random homeless man that was just trying to avoid the rain...that is-" She paused," until out of nowhere he grabbed a woman and started to rip her to bits." What? She must've not noticed his surprised look because she kept talking."It turned into an all out riot when the guards stepped in but...even with all that I-I just freaked out." Very faintly she was shaking." My body froze a-and I couldn't move that guy...Mikado...snapped a little sense into me, enough to get me moving again but...I _ran_. I...just..._damn it_!"

Damn, wasn't this freaking awkward. He wasn't good at comforting people actually most of the time he had just made things worse (so he had been told. A lot.) He awkwardly snaked his arm around her shoulder and gave it a tight and very brief squeeze. "Buck up girly, you're stronger than you think though you need to start using that straw covered head of yours. It probably _was _some crazy dude and frankly stop blaming yourself, naturally you can't be as perfectly awesome as me." He grinned at her,"Though if you want to slip into the 'damsel in distress' I guess it can't be helped that _I _would have to play the awesome and ever powerful knight that would have to rescue you again and again."

The blond stared at him with the flattest look she could give."And here I was just starting to think you were getting to be less of a prideful moron then half-way through you said something like that and I just lost what little respect I had left for you snowflake." She shook her slightly tinted hair and shoved the passenger door open. "I'm going to get some caffeine to calm my nerves if Mikado comes back please don't mess with him."

"No screwing with the humans, got it." He grinned cheekily, for some reason she didn't feel too comforted by his words.

_**-**T-1-1-T-_

The blond quickly removed a soda and one of those large cans of what she guessed was coffee flavoured energy drinks, she tried one of them on a whim once and didn't really care for the taste but right now taste aside she needed the caffeine. Quickly slipping into line she searched her pockets.'_For a place nearly empty of cars there sure are a lot of people here._' The teen frowned.'...' She glanced down at her empty pockets.'_Where the hell is my wallet?!_' The teen began to panic slightly,'_Don't tell me it fell out-_' Someone tapped her shoulder.

She whirled around to face a taller boy. Alex scanned him from his head, which covered with a shaggy dark brown mop of hair, down to his feet, (which supported a _nice _pair of trainers. Not that she knew from personal experience owning some...hers were several years old and patched up with the one of the most useful inventions ever created; ductape.) Everything about this man simply screamed, 'I'm wealthier than you.' And he was holding her wallet. "I think you dropped this." He smiled.

She snatched the wallet back and eyed the male warily. "Thanks." She mumbled and scooted up to the counter, setting down the two drinks for the attendant to ring up. She glanced back at him an noticed he held a paper of some kind, that was a little odd?

"That'll be four dollars and fifty two cents mam." The attendant huffed.

"Ah? Sorry. Here." She dug through the worn leather wallet and tossed him the american currency and snatched up her drinks. She unzipped the pack on her back and placed the coffee drink down in there and uncapped the soda, taking a long swig she sighed.'_Damn did I ever need that._' She turned towards the door when a hand tapped on her shoulder once more.

"What _now_?" She snapped, not turning around to face the person. She had a feeling she already knew who it was going to be.

The young man took a step back, he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly."Sorry I really don't want any trouble mam. Um..." He shifted uncertainly on the balls of his feet,"Well you see...the situation is-" She couldn't exactly place this guy's accent other than 'American' though listening to him, he probably wasn't from around this area."- me and my friends were on a road trip and passing through this area-" That explained it."-and...well we got lost." His face flushed slightly and he glanced down like the flooring had suddenly become interesting."Do'ya think you could help a few fellas on their way now?"

She glanced back offering a forced smile towards the brunette."I'm really sorry." The blond shook her head."I'm not from around here either so I don't think my directions would be much help man. Again I'm really sorry I couldn't help you." '_Now leave me alone._' She thought.

His face fell a little and bounced back almost instantly. "Oh I kind of guessed that. You have this sort of...lisp...or whatever it's called that I've noticed most people don't seem to have around here. Where are you from? Very far?"

Good god the kid was like a needy dog trying to get scraps from a dinner table. The blond decided to humour him as she made her way for the entrance. "Yeah...I'm Canadian. Though I've been living in England for the past couple of years, long enough to pick up a few british swears." She snorted. Her eyes drew to the window at the silver car and it's white haired owner. It looked like the other guy made it back to the car alright, must've slipped out while she was paying or something.

"Canadian-English?" His eyes lit up, "That's really chill, I've always wanted to go abroad it just seems like quite the adventure don'tcha think?" The brunette slipped the paper -a map- into his pocket."M'name's Eric by the by, most people call me just that or E but never Ric though, it sounds weird." He frowned. "But yeah you can call me whatever miss..."

"...Alex." God this guy was just the regular chatterbug wasn't he?'_Is he ever going to shut up?_' She frowned slightly.

Eric seemed oblivious to her inner thoughts however and kept jabbering away,"Alex? Isn't that a guy's name normally? Unless...I see! It's short for something isn't it? Like...Alexis or Alexandra or...yeah something like that." The brunette grinned and glanced down, he noticed the blond's sleeve had bunched up a little higher than it was supposed to go. (Though the whole thing looked a little too small for her so it was no real surprise.) A inky pattern wove around her wrist and up her arm, disappearing under the cover of the sleeve."You have a tattoo? That is _so _freaking cool! I head girls with really big tattoos usually have some grand story to tell but I don't really know if that's true or not...though you have to be pretty ballsy to actually get one in the first place. I heard they hurt a lot..."

The blond teen whipped around, her grey eyes piercingly sharp. She clenched her jaw and latched onto the slightly taller male's shirt. She stared into startled dark brown eyes unflinchingly as she spoke,"Eric, if you're not an _idiot _you'll change the damn subject or _shut the hell up. Got it_?" She released him with a small shove and turned back to the window, her shoulders hunched down in on herself. She turned back to the glass storefront, absently she tugged her sleeves down."..."Her harsh look faded, replacing itself with something else.

They both fell into an awkward silence, attentions faded from each other onto different things. Eric's attention drifted to his dark truck, a newer model car he could see his friends arm swinging lazily outside the open window. The headlights glimmered dimly in the grey light. Wait. His headlights were on? But he knew he shut them off, along with the engine when he had pulled in to the service station. The young man strained to see through the smudged window, it looked like the two other men were arguing inside?

Suddenly the truck's engine roared to life and it pulled into reverse, the two men backed out of the station and swerved around on the street. In his truck. It took a moment for it to register in his mind. _They were stealing his truck._

"Hey, hey, hey!" He darted out the front door and began to sprint down the empty road in pursuit of the truck, _his _truck. He made it half a block before the the vehicle jerked to a stop in the middle of the street. He skidded on the pavement, his trainers losing their purchace on the slick asphalt. Eric slammed face first into the back of the truck before falling flat on his ass. '_Ow. Ow. Owww._'

There was muffled laughter coming from the cab of the truck, the dark tinted windows rolled down and his two 'friends' looked back at them with shit-eating grins plastered on their faces. The boy on the driver's side called back to the fallen man. "Nice fall E, I can't believe you actually picked up your ass and ran after us!"

The brunette scowled at him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing David?! You were really going to bolt off with _my _truck and leave me there? Of _course _I'm running after you, it's _my _freaking truck you're stealing!"_  
_

Both the men in the cab seemed to look at each other for a second before turning back to Eric, the one called David drummed his hand on the steering wheel. "Yeah me and Peter are _really _sorry 'bout that but we've got to get the hell out of dodge if you know what I mean." No he didn't._  
_

Peter, chimed up from the passenger side. "Yeah, some weird ass shit going down that direction. We're saving our asses before the roads get too full then we'll be sitting ducks. Sorry it's gotta be this way man, but you gotta do what you do to survive right?"

"What about my stuff? And _my car_?" The brunette looked like he was having a panic attack. "How the hell am I supposed to get _home_?"

"..." David poked his head back in the car and plucked something out, a backpack, an tossed back towards him. Then he shifted the car back into drive and stepped on the gas. The truck jerked forward away from Eric and further down the road."You'll just have to figure that on your own!" and then they were gone. Nothing but a speck on the horizon.

Alex leaned against the gas pump as she slowly drained the can of soda, her attention flickered to the road. A bedraggled brunette trudged resignedly up the road with a heavy looking backpack slung across his shoulder. Damn if the boy didn't look like a kicked puppy. She sighed crushing the can in her hand and tossing it into the trash bin.' _I'm too nice._' "Oi kid! Eric!"

He glanced up at her awkwardly, his brows furrowed. He stopped walking. "Y-yes?"

She pulled away from the pump and dusted herself off. "You're asshole friends ditched you didn't they?" She took his wince as a yes and continued."You know...there's an empty spot in my ride.." She turned away quickly, moving back to the parked car, pausing with her hand on the door she glanced back at him."You can come if you want but know this if you turn out to be some freaky ax-murderer who...strangles cats and kicks puppies in your free time we're booting you right off the side of the road and not looking back. Got it?"

Alex had never seen anyone go from looking like a depressed loser who lost all hope to something resembling one of those squirmy puppies when they're excited. Hell she could almost see a tail wagging furiously in her mind.'_Now you stop that thought right there. Stop it._' She chastised herself. She unlocked the door and slid inside, shutting behind her. Her eyes flickered to the albino in the other seat and the ravenette in the back. "Mikado hey, can you scoot over and make room in the back there?"

Mikado's brow furrowed slightly but he complied nonetheless. He glanced from the blond to the albino with a somewhat confused expression. "Are you...moving...something back in this seat Clark-san?" He asked.

"Well...more like some_one _but yeah." She muttered, clicking her seatbelt into place. The teen sighed.

Gilbert groaned."_What_? You picked up _another _hitchhiker?" He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head."My car isn't a cab girl!" He grumbled irritably.

"Oh shut up Gilbert." The blond snapped, "The only reason I'm letting this damn kid in is because his arsehole friends stole his ride and drove off without him. Something that reminds me of what a _certain someone _did to me as well." Grey eyes narrowed at the pale man, she crossed her arms and frowned.

"Are you still not over that?! I said I was sorry!"

"That doesn't mean it's okay damn it!"

"Um...ano..."

"_What_?" They both snapped.

The ravenette slunk back in the seat, flinching slightly at their harsh glares he glanced towards the window. "I-I'm sorry...b-but there is someone...er..." he gestured at the smiling brunette standing outside the back passenger side door.

Alex shook her head and jabbed the unlock button, wordlessly she shot Gilbert a venomous look.'_Don't you dare say anything._' It practically screamed. He just snorted and clutched the steering wheel, it was very obvious by the roll of his eyes he wasn't going to listen to her but that wasn't anything new she supposed.

Eric slid into the backseat happily if though a bit awkwardly, he offered an small shy smile towards the Japanese male beside of him and shut the door. His hands wrapped around the full pack perched on his lap, he glanced towards the man and woman in the seats in front of him."Um...t-thanks again I mean this is really nice of a thing to do for someone you've just met and-"

"Kid? Eric whatever your name is? Just one rule goes on in this car. If your in the back or the driver's seat, you keep your mouth shut." Her eyes flickered to the mirror and the men back there, her lips curved into a deep frown. "I'm nursing a headache that comes from dealing with idiots." She glared at the Albino."So, yeah. Just shut the hell up for a little while and everything will be golden. Got it." Her eyes returned to the mirror to see him just nod understandingly. The blond rolled her eyes. "Alright, drive already."

The car shifted into reverse and pulled out of the service station before continuing it's wayward journey down the desolate highway. They coasted down and faintly the patter of raindrops broke the silence between the four as the clouds finally released their payload. Visibility decreased, and it really was a lucky thing the road was so empty or else this might've been more dangerous than unnecessary. Alex rested her hand on her chin and stared out the window, her other finger absently traced patterns on the frigid glass. '_Hm. It's quiet._' Her pocket vibrated.

"?" She pulled the device out and frowned. '_Who the hell could be messaging me? Hm maybe my boss?_' She quickly raised an eyebrow at the unknown number and scanned the text. She blinked.'_A text from her? Wait...how did she get my cell number in the first place?_' The teen tapped the keyboard function unhesitatingly.'_Well if she went through all this trouble it might be nice to send a reply back._' She quickly typed out her message just about press the send button. The car jerked. Her thumb swiped across the screen, adding a whole mess of extra letters. Alex swore."Damn it Gilbert what the hell was that?" She griped, refixing the mistake and jabbing the send button.

"I'm sorry! The road's slick and I lost traction for a second. Lay off woman!" He snapped, scowling at her and looking away from the barely visible road.

"Tch, driving in the rain is dangerous you should know." She pointed out, jamming her phone back into her pants pocket as she did so.

"And yet you still made me come outside in this mess, and pick up damned hitchhikers no less!"

"Miss Clark, Sir...Ah...Hey you two." Eric chimed up, he stared at the rain splattered windshield. His eyes remained locked on something in the blurred distance.

The blond headed girl clearly ignored him, her sights set on the elder albino sitting beside of her. She narrowed her eyes into harsh dull grey slits and scowled."Oh yes I'm the evil villain here aren't I? The evil villain who's sole job is to mess with you and force you to come outside to pick me up and after all this way just dump two strangers on you who need a ride. Yes, Mr. thinks-he's so awesome but really annoys the crap out of most people, and let me guess the weather is my fault too isn't it?"

Mikado's eyes were locked on the same spot that the man beside of him was, he looked positively pale in the dim interior of the car."C-Clark-san...hey Clark-san. Driver-san. Um..." His voice went unnoticed by the two bickering up front much like his companion's mutterings.

"Hell it very might as well could be with that weird shit you pull half the time. I wouldn't be surprised if it started raining freaking traffic signs and you probably _would _have something to do with 're like a weird magnet Fraulein. You draw people up into things they rather not be involved with."

"_What?!_" The blond growled, her hackles raising. She looked as though she might have reached over any second and start to strangle the snowy haired man.

Eric jerked forward, leaning over the gap between the two seats he pointed frantically towards the wet road. "Watch the road, not each other. Watch the road!" There was something large stretched across the pavement, barring the road. A barrier of sorts, a barely viable grey in the harsh grey rain, every second they edged closer and closer towards it. No...they were heading in a direct path _towards _it._  
_

Alex palled, completely forgetting her argument at the light of the new dangerous development. Her grip tightened on the side of the door."Oh shit. Break, slam on the bloody breaks Gilbert!" She shouted, her eyes never leaving the grey chain fence.'_Why the hell is that there in the first damned place?! Who's the idiot who decided to put it there?!_' A loud screeching sound emanated from the break but they didn't seem to have slowed down in the slightest. "...Um...I said the breaks..."

His grip tightened on the wheel and his brow furrowed, he looked a little more than mildly horrified. "Verdammnt, I'm pressing them! The rain must've locked them up, I can't get them to work properly." He ground out, his eyes flickered towards the wall. "Piece of crap rental!" He swore, jamming his foot down on the break to no avail.

"...Swerve then! Ease off the breaks and just swerve! Swerve!" At least if they hit it at a slower speed and at an angle their might coast to a stop and if not the side would hit and spread the damage out over the entire car a little more even than headfirst and hopefully save the passengers inside. Them. Though the keyword in that was _hopefully_. They jerked to the side in a harsh spin, the action made her wince and they skid out, they were going to stop...not like she wanted though. "Oh fuck brace for impact!-" The side of the car slammed hard into the metal fence, twisting and warping the metal and turning it into something deadly as it pierced the glass.

Three seconds. Three seconds was all it took for the metal and glass to meet her head and the dark to overtake her vision.'_Damn it...I'm going to have to...deal with this...when I wake up._' The blond thought. As her mind slipped into the black she thought she could hear the faint call of a siren through the downpour...

* * *

_Graaaaah...God...Why must it take forever to get these things into a presentable quality? I mean for pete's sake I wanted to have this thing up months ago but I never could get it quite good enough so here's me just saying, "Screw it. It's good enough." and displaying it for you guys to check out._

_This story is a sequel to my earlier fic 'Chime' though you don't necessarily have to read it to understand this one...I doubt one actually could read it seeing it was removed for reasons a while back though I'll probably upload it again one of these days when I get the time._

_Remember to review folks and remember all flames will be shot out of the computer back out at you, so be warned trolls!~ _

_~Darkstrawberry-chan~_


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